Chapter 170: The True Meaning Of An Unmoving Primordial Spirit
Just as the boy lay on the bed, ready to rest for a bit, his phone rang again.
“Beep beep.”
“Are you there, Master?”
“I’m here, what’s up?”
“Master, why do some people say the primordial spirit is not the subconscious, but you say it is?”
“When you have random distracting thoughts, do you initiate them yourself?”
“No.”
“Then who makes you have them?”
“This, this I don’t know.”
“They arise passively, right?”
“Yes.”
“What arises passively is the subconscious, or habitual. What arises subconsciously is the subconscious moving. If the subconscious doesn’t move randomly, you won’t randomly have thoughts. That’s why I liken the subconscious to the primordial spirit. When the subconscious is still, the primordial spirit is still. This means your thoughts don’t move randomly; without your command, they won’t run wild. In other words, your thoughts completely submit to you. They only dare to move when you allow them to, and they won’t move randomly if you don’t. This is the true meaning of the still primordial spirit.”
“Then why do some people meditate endlessly?”
“Because they don’t know how! Hahaha. If they knew, they wouldn’t need to practice! If you’re already in constant Samadhi, in a state of a still primordial spirit, why would you still sit there pretending to be a stone?”
“That’s true. Master, some people say that thoughtlessness means the same thing, right?”
“It’s the same. A mind without distracting thoughts is like not grasping onto thoughts when they arise. If the mind doesn’t chase after external phenomena, it naturally won’t grasp onto thoughts. Remember what I told you? No action, no thought.
The first part means that if you don’t deliberately think about something, your thoughts will honestly stay in your spiritual platform, meaning they won’t run wild in your head, and you won’t passively think about anything.
The second part means that when you encounter something, you won’t be trapped by habitual cognition. This is because habitual cognition is also passive, driven by the subconscious. You think it’s you thinking, but it’s actually just your habitual thoughts moving. This habit comes from your past experiences, things you’ve heard, seen, or thought about. The saying ‘a single thought gives birth to a lotus’ means that no matter what thought arises, you can clearly recognize that it is not you.”
“Then how do I recognize it, Master?”
“See all forms as non-forms, do not take thoughts as real. The mind is like a mirror; everything in the mirror is like dharmic dust, like an illusory bubble and shadow, like dew, and like lightning. This means it’s false, not real.”
“Master, if it’s all false, then there’s nothing real?”
“How can I describe it to you? It’s as if it’s false but not entirely false, as if it’s real but not entirely real. Truth and falsehood intertwine; observe dreams with freedom.
Do not take the false as real, or the real as false. Taking the false as false is a method, and taking the real as real is also a method. In between this truth and falsehood, it’s like a dream. If you see it as a dream, it’s both real and false. Although it may feel very real, you don’t get stuck or entangled, and your mind is at ease.”
“Master, what you’re saying is so profound. I only understood a little.”
“This is profound? If it were any deeper, there would be no shallows. In this world today, there are many shallow people acting like big brothers. Anyone can preach dharma. If you are a little confused, you will go astray. I’ve already simplified it to what I consider the simplest level.”
“Master, you said primordial spirit departure is the same as a lucid dream. What’s the principle behind that?”
“This primordial spirit departure is also called entering a realm. The realm entered is like the dream created by the subconscious when a person sleeps. Your consciousness, the intentional thought that allows you to think now, infiltrates the realm created by the subconscious, and you are aware of it and can control yourself. Due to the characteristics of the primordial spirit, which are the characteristics of the subconscious, you can go anywhere in the realm, see anyone you want to see, and understand anything you want to understand. This is called primordial spirit departure. It’s also a way of being beyond the Three Realms and Five Elements, free and unfettered, unbound by time and space.
Another way of being beyond the Three Realms and Five Elements is worldly. This refers to a person’s thoughts and consciousness not running wild in the three states of human, ghost, and god, nor being troubled by all things in the world that have the attributes of the Five Elements. The three realms of human, ghost, and god refer to the normal state, the bad state, and the good state – three forms of consciousness influencing emotions.
These Five Elements generate all things, I don’t need to explain that further, right? Everything is within the Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.”
“Holy cow! Master, where did you learn this?”
“To explain it clearly to you, I’ve learned a bit in ways I don’t know how to describe. For the sake of convenient speech, but all of this wasn’t learned, it was realized.”
“Awesome, awesome! That’s incredible, Master!”
“Master, do you think there really is a next life? Or ascension before leaving?”
“A next life is just the random drifting of ignorant consciousness. After the physical body disintegrates, what comes from the innate, which is the subconscious, returns upwards. The acquired habitual thinking dissolves, and consciousness becomes like having drunk Meng Po’s Soup, gradually losing all awareness, becoming drowsy. Then, if lucky, you will reincarnate as a human. The void casts down the vitality of the Great Dao, which is the subconscious, propelling consciousness to re-evolve thoughts and consciousness, becoming another person.
As for ascension, hahaha. Consciousness, carrying what it knows now, infiltrates the subconscious like primordial spirit departure, which is to say, without thought, yet having thought. How can I describe this state? Perhaps it’s called the thought of no-thought. This state is a bit like that damned Samadhi, yet different from conventional Samadhi. It’s also like the True Self transforming into instinct, not needing to actively think. This True Self is very close to the subconscious; the only difference is that there is thought, yet there is also no thought. Then, when the subconscious takes flight, it carries this along, and that’s ascension?”
“Then, then is that still oneself?”
“In the world, there is no self, is there? Thoughts are not me. But this True Self consciousness, pure, clean, not attached to any worldly thing, without any disturbance, I am myself and yet not myself. And if not rejected by the subconscious, then the primordial spirit is indestructible. This is achieving the Dao and ascending after death, uniting with the Dao, free to roam wherever one pleases, unburdened, with infinite freedom.”
“Master, I really can’t describe you. In my eyes, there are no words that can express you.”
“Damn it, express what? I’m bragging. I’m a novelist. Don’t treat me like some ghost or god. No matter how much you praise me, it’s useless. If you don’t cultivate your heart properly, I’ll still scold you. Did you hear me?”
“Hahahaha, I understand, Master. Heeheeheehee.”
Putting down his phone, the boy didn’t know where these words came from, because he hadn’t thought about anything; he was typing replies purely on instinct.
This…
The thought of no-thought?
No need for any thoughts, driven entirely by instinct?
Whoa, what kind of monster have I become? I can think actively, and I can type in a state of no-thought. Oh my goodness, cough?
So, after awareness and thought unite, the next step is this: the thought of no-thought, driven by instinct. This means transforming everything learned into instinct, which is the state of unity. Like a newborn infant, no need to think, just instinct.
This means I’m not thinking about anything myself, yet I know what I’m doing; my body is outputting automatically.
Then, I need to accustom myself to this state. Using the subconscious to cultivate something like the subconscious, returning to the original simplicity.
Holy crap! I’m living life and achieving a state of unity with the Dao.
My goodness…
Wahahahaha, if I’m not a god now, then it’s truly unbearable by heavenly justice!
Damn! I absolutely cannot say this casually. Heavenly justice will surely tolerate me, hahahaha, I must return to heavenly justice.
When I go back, I’m going to stew Sky Howler Hound and have it with drinks, damn it! I’m talking like this again. It’s been so long since I ran roughshod in the upper realm. Is it too much to simply eat a dog?
Amitabha, passionate performance. This humble monk does not like killing life. Eating something from heaven should not be considered killing life. If it absolutely comes to it, at worst, I’ll buy Erlang another Tibetan Mastiff, damn it!
